You Tube Monday - Conversations I've Had As An Unschooler, pt. 1.

Over the past few weeks You Tube Mondays have been dedicated to comical conversations homeschoolers have had. This will be last in this series, but is one of the best I found!

What I am Reading - August - GCKMom

I have been laughing HYSTERICALLY through the funniest home ed books I have ever read!

"Okay Kids, Time for Bedlam!" is a labor of love. It is the lighter side of life, told byDebbie Harbeson, an average mom who rather unknowingly lobbed herself into the often loopy world of homeschooling.This is what happens to you, when you purposely allow your children to skip school to learn at home... and it's a riot! The whole endeavor, needless to say, has been a learning experience for everyone. And hopefully, a story you all can enjoy from the safety of your own home.

Some of my favorite quotes include :

• "We all watched as a couple of eyeballs rolled past her feet and settled under the porch bench."
• "Yesterday four textbooks made a perfect support for our bike ramps."
• "Melissa sat the cheetah on the cabinet, he dialed the number and the cheetah's belly began to ring."
• The ENTIRE content of Chapter Fifteen - Mother Nature!!!

These are all the things home ed mom's don't want you to find out really go on! Best part Debbie Harbeson has made the entire content of the book downloadable and FREE!!! Take a peek you won't regret it! 

You Tube Monday - Tim Hawkins - Homeschool Comedy & Homeschool Blues Song

Over the past few weeks I have been sharing some of my favorite xtra normal and you tube videos on "homeschooling". This guy is really funny! One more to go next week!

You Tube - Homeschool conversations I really have had part 1

Over the past few weeks I have been sharing some of my favorite xtra normal videos on "homeschooling".

Some of these are freakishly close to conversations that I have had and are always good for a chuckle!

You Tube Monday - PUBLIC SCHOOL PRINCIPAL MEETS SHELLY THE HOME SCHOOL MOM

Over the next few weeks I will be sharing some of my favorite xtra normal videos on "homeschooling".

Some of these are freakishly close to conversations that I have had and are always good for a chuckle!

You Tube Monday - Homeschool Conversation with public school teacher's kid Xtranormal

Over the next few weeks I will be sharing some of my favorite xtra normal videos on "homeschooling".

Some of these are freakishly close to conversations that I have had and are always good for a chuckle!

You Tube Monday - Home Schooling Concerns #1 & #2

2 for 1 this week!

Over the next few weeks I will be sharing some of my favorite xtra normal videos on "homeschooling".

Some of these are freakishly close to conversations that I have had and are always good for a chuckle!

Regulation in Home Education

I had to share this incredible installment of the Unplugged Mom Radio show on Regulation in Home Education. CLICK HERE FOR THE 1/28 BROADCAST.

Here is an excerpt from my email that she speaks of during the show - 

I have been meaning to contact you about something I heard on one of the archive shows and I keep forgetting to do it, but after hearing about your speaker for next week, I wanted to be sure to get a question in ahead of time as I am not sure I can be up that early...we are just not morning people in the winter. 

So anyway, I was listening to the archives and I heard Desiree's comment about Massachusetts laws being so strict. As a board member of our state homeschooling organization I hear from people all the time who are concerned because they are moving here or are thinking about homeschooling here. We are constantly listed as a "very difficult state to homeschool in", so I am curious why people feel that our state is such a difficult one. I have heard from some that it is just the fact that we are an "approval" state, but the thing that a lot of people don't seem to realize is that though this is true, there are no "laws" or "homeschooling regulations" here. The guidelines that are followed are based on case laws and therefore are up for interpretation. I also think it has a lot to do with people's intimidation of authority figures and a lack of willingness to bump the system, even if only by standing up for their own rights. So my question for the constitutional expert would be "From a constitutional standpoint, why would Massachusetts be considered a strict homeschooling state?"

I was very impressed with this show and the connections that were made for me are profound! 

Busy STILL

I really don't know how this keeps happening, we have been so BUSY lately! What have we been doing you may ask? Well there has been lots of fun stuff, lessons, tennis, hiking, web classes, parties, field trips, birthdays, fall activities, theater, volunteering, errands, and the list goes on....who has time to be home when you are "homeschooling"?

I am trying to slow things down, but it looks like at least the next two weeks are going to be the same. Once Thanksgiving week rolls on through, we should be good to be SLOOOOOWWW!

I just have to keep my fingers crossed, there has to be end somewhere....Right?

What do you do when things seem to be getting too overscheduled?

New Study/Playroom

We had planned on doing this project more towards the end of the summer, but none of us could wait! We swapped KM's bedroom and playrooms around. Here is how our New Study/Playroom is laid out...




SC tried it out the other day and I got the feeling that she approved! She spent nearly 45 minutes in playing all by herself with Play-doh! I couldn't believe it! She is never more than 5 feet from any one of us, but she was totally enthralled with that play-doh. Guess that would be a great gift for her birthday next week!

The Year in Review

As I went along my merry route through my blog list today, I noticed that quite a few people were reminiscing of happenings from the past year - of course this led me to think of all the things that have transpired during 2008.

I would say that here at GCK Homeschool the word for the year would have to be:
revelations - an enlightening or astonishing disclosure

The first revelation would have to have been how wonderful homeschooling can be! We began our jaunt into Homeschooling in January and we will never turn back! She really has blossomed over the last year. Of course we have had some challenges, but that has generally been more about getting our rhythms and schedules in order, than any kind of reluctance or lack of interest in learning - in fact her love of learning has been reignited! She gets truly excited about what we are investigating and experimenting with. Anything hands-on is better than sitting in a classroom reading about what you could be doing - right! The favorite experiment would have to be the growing crystals:

The second revelation would have to come from the fantastic local resources that we had been missing out on while KM was in PS. We have had some wonderful field trips with our local homeschool groups and on our own, for that matter. I have been trying to think of what my favorite would be if I had to choose one and I would have to say that there were 2 favorites. The first one would be our trip to Concord's Orchard House - to see the home where Louisa May Alcott grew up - and Walden Pond - where Henry David Thoreau went to the woods -

Running a close second would be our day going to the Big Top Circus and the GIANT Build-a-Bear Store in Faneuil Hall!
The third revelation is one of our familial codependency. Our family has become extremely close during the last year and though we have had some sadder moments, the trials and tribulations have brought us to realize how important we truly are to each other. We lost some wonderful family members during the year and had some close calls with some others. I tried to stay on the lighter side of things here, but I felt I should mention it so that no one thinks it is all just sunshine and textbooks around here. Real life events and experiences can be so much more intriguing than anything you could read about in a book. We have had a lot of anatomy lessons come about from some simple explanations of illnesses!

I have never really been big on New Year Resolutions, as I have seen so many get forgotten within days - sometimes hours - of the ball dropping. However this year I am resolving to put our family's true beliefs into practice, to create our own traditions, and to be a united front against anything that stand in our way! We have become a better family and we WILL continue to keep moving in this direction!

My Favorite New Years Quote :

This bright new year is given me

To live each day with zest

To daily grow and try to be

My highest and my best!

By: William Arthur Ward

Best Wishes for a Bright and Happy New Year!

Boxed or Not: The Great Curriculum Debate

I just started homeschooling in January and I have been piecing things together, it is a LOT of work, but the boxed sets scare me. As one mom mentioned they seem to teach to one particular learning style, what do you do if one part of the "BOX" is where your child is suppose to be and another is not.

KM seems to do really well with visual and interactive learning for Math, needs a lot of auditory for social studies, memorizes nearly everything for ELA and needs total hands on for Science.

Is there a box that is going to include all those?I wish I could take the easy route and get the boxed curriculum, but if I was the easy route type of person my daughter would probably still be in PS!

We have been using the Time4Learning site and I like how it is set so that you can follow it straight through or jump around. Math of course we follow straight through, but the sites gives a good variety with games, text reading, videos, and exercises with full explanations played out so that it is VERY interactive. We supplement with workbooks or printed worksheets and online games when we get to an area that seems to be stumping her. ELA is pretty much the same scenario. Science we are doing pieces here and there with LOTS of projects along the way. This seems to really be intergrating the information for KM. Social Studies & History is where the problem lies right now. We are trying to figure out something that will keep her engaged. She is very good at memorizing (freakishly really), but retaining and connecting in this area is something different. She is not a read the book and answer questions type of child. Mind you she will do it and as i mentioned with the memorization will give you the right answer, but she won't remember 90% of it in a month. I am thinking we will go a different route with it right now and focus on current events, with the presidential election around the corner we can focus on democracies and governments.